Benjamin Doyle,
United Empire Loyalist
By R. Robert Mutrie
By R. Robert Mutrie
One family that seemed to suddenly appear in the Long Point Settlement, and just as suddenly disappear was that of Benjamin Doyle of Townsend Township. Arriving by the time of the Paul Averill Report of 1797, Doyle’s skills as a blacksmith made him quite popular with his neighbours in the pioneer community. Then, in 1801 he sold his land grant. That is the last we hear of him in the Settlement. What was the background of this man who made such an impression on his neighbours? What became of him? In answering these questions, I also unravelled what became of Henry Slawson, another Settlement pioneer, who married Doyle’s oldest daughter.
Benjamin Doyle was a staunch Tory in the American Revolution and that is where my story begins. He was then a young man of twenty-eight years, single, and perhaps already had the blacksmith skills that would make him a valued member of any corps.
Benjamin joined Butler's Rangers, listed as a private in their Muster Rolls.1 He later stated in a land petition that he came to Niagara in 1778 and presumably that is the year in which he joined the corps.2
Lake Ontario saw much traffic during the war. Butler's campaigns ranged far eastward and there were joint activities with the King’s Royal Regiment of New York a part of which had been stationed in the eastern region of this province. Doyle’s future father-in-law, Andrew Summers left his Schoharie, New York home to join the latter Regiment in 1777. The KRRNY muster rolls record that Andrew Summers/Sommers/Somer, born in 1729, had come to America from Germany and served as a private during the Revolution.3
In 1780, Benjamin married Catharine Summers (daughter of Andrew and Catharine Summers), born about 1764 perhaps at Schoharie where her parents at one time resided. In 1783, a census was taken of the populace of Niagara.4 The Doyles appeared in the part titled “Return of persons under the description of Loyalists in Capt. John McDonnell’s Company of the Corps of Rangers, Niagara, 30 November 1783”:
Benja’n Doyl 33
Catey Doyl 19
Henry Doyl 1 8 mos.
After the peace, the Doyles’ first settled on a one hundred acre farm, Lot 14, Concession 2, Township Number 2, later known as Stamford Township, Welland County in Upper Canada, about a half mile west of the Niagara River and two miles below Niagara Falls, an area known as “Mount Dorchester” in the early days of the province. Doyle’s name was entered on this property on a pre-1790 map of the township kept by the Surveyor General’s office. The lot, afterwards renumbered Lot 78, became William Aiglar’s by the time of a surveyor’s 1791 map so presumably Benjamin sold his interest and moved on prior to that time. Later still, this lot bore the number 91-78, then finally just 91.
Benjamin went to the Grand River area where he worked as a blacksmith with the Indian Department of Canada. On May 17, 1796 he made out his first Upper Canada Land Petition noting his employ and mentioning his earlier war service with Butler’s Rangers. He recorded that his wife was a daughter of Andrew Summers and he had six children living at the time. Doyle requested the usual allotment of 200 acres as a settler, an additional 100 acres as a veteran of the Revolution, and 400 acres for his wife, the daughter of a loyalist and the four children born before the pivotal date of 1789, a total of 700 acres. The Land Board returned Doyle’s petition to him for want of supporting certificates and his discharge papers. Doyle again submitted the document with two certificates from the Justices of the Peace, supporting his statements and adding more detail including mention of his 1780 marriage to Catharine Summers.5
While the land grant process dragged on, Benjamin chose as his place of settlement Townsend Township in the Long Point Settlement. The Executive Council of Upper Canada granted the entire township to Andrew Pierce and his associates in New England in 1793 on the condition that they locate at least fifty settlers there within three years. Their local agent at Townsend, Paul Averill, received the charge of settling those sent his way. The initial interest shown by Pierce’s friends died out and Averill approached many already in Upper Canada to come to Townsend. Among these pioneer settlers was Benjamin Doyle, recorded as an actual settler in Averill’s report of January 1797.6
Later that year, the United Empire Loyalist List was prepared recognizing those who were resident in the American colonies prior to the Revolution and who had served in or visibly supported the loyalist forces then afterwards came to Upper Canada. Benjamin Doyle’s name appears on the list with the notation that he had served in Butler’s Rangers and had a wife and two children included in the Provision List of Niagara of 1786. This entitled all of his children to file for their own 200 acre land grants when they came of age.
Doyle’s first settlement at Townsend was on Lot 9, Concession 10 near the pioneer trail from Brant’s Ford (Brantford) to Long Point, southeast of Averill’s settlement at Waterford. His time on that lot, a short one, resulted in no appropriation being made by the Surveyor General’s Department. Benjamin found another location where he could ply his trade, Lot 16 Concession 2 in the northern part of the township, a more desirable lot with a creek running through. The rights to this lot were earlier granted to Eli Danforth, who noted in a petition that Doyle had made improvements on the property and Danforth relinquished his claim. Doyle then sent a letter dated July 3, 1797 to the Surveyor General requesting that his name be entered on the township map for ‘the land he is on’.7 Danforth, the earlier grantee, must have found it difficult to compete with Doyle, finding that the neighbours were “desirous of retaining him amongst them on account of his trade”.8
Then Doyle received word from the Executive Council of Upper Canada that his military lands were allowed as well as 250 acres for his family lands. The additional claim of his wife as the daughter of a loyalist, after referral to the United Empire Loyalists List, received approval. The Doyle grant totalled 700 acres, including 500 acres in Clinton Township, Lincoln County- Lots 7 and 8 in Concession 5 and Lots 7, 8, and 9 in Concession 6, registered in the Abstracts of Deeds Register of Clinton on August 10, 1801. These lots Benjamin sold soon afterwards to land jobbers Richard Hatt and John McKay. The other 200 acres of his grant was the Townsend farm on which the Doyles had settled.
Doyle proved not to be much of one for having his land transactions officially recognized. The only reason that we know that he had been at Stamford in the 1780’s was his name entered on the Surveyor General’s map. The Clinton land sale to Hatt and McKay remains unrecorded in the township register but known, as the partnership conducted business there in later years. Likewise Doyle’s ownership of the Townsend lot was not registered and we had to rely on the Township Papers for his residency there. Somewhere along the way, Doyle sold his rights to the Townsend property to Peter Fairchild who became the Crown grantee of record when he registered his patent on May 17, 1802. Our last record of Benjamin in the Long Point Settlement was a legal action in the London District Court on April 7, 1801 in which Benjamin Doyle served as a security for Henry Slawson.9
About this time the Doyle’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth married Henry Slawson who lived on Lot 1, Concession 7 in Townsend which he afterwards sold in 1802. Both Doyle and Slawson then are devoid of mention in the Settlement. Yet, in an 1807 land petition Elizabeth (Doyle) Slawson stated she and her husband were at Townsend.
Benjamin Doyle resided next along the Governor’s Road near the pioneer village of Princeton occupying the south 100 acres of Lot 15, Concession 1, Blenheim Township, Oxford County, a property which he purchased on March 18, 1807. Described in the deed as a blacksmith, his residency was given already “of Blenheim”.10
In 1811, Henry Slawson settled across the road and a little to the east purchasing Lot 13, Concession 1, Burford Township. In 1812, Doyle aged about 62 years, retired to a two acre property which he purchased from Slawson, selling his Blenheim farm.11 As they came of age, most of Benjamin and Catharine’s children settled around them. Elizabeth Doyle and Henry Slawson lived next door. Next to them were Ann Doyle and her husband James Pelton, Jr. Son John resided two concessions away in Blenheim. Samuel Doyle bought a part of his father’s Blenheim farm. Mary Doyle and her husband Elial Martin lived on another part of that farm. David Doyle settled on Lot 19 Concession 1, Burford about a mile to the west. Next door to them were Rebecca Doyle and George Beamer. Sarah Doyle and Jacob Beamer were about the same distance to the east on Lot 9 Concession 1. The youngest, Eleanor, resided at home while her parents were living. Even oldest son Henry who located at Westminster Township, Middlesex County was easily visited by way of the Governor’s Road.
Benjamin Doyle was listed in the 1824 Voter’s List of Burford Township. On July 14, 1825 he and Catherine sold Lot 22, Concession 16, Zorra Township, Oxford County to Samuel Doyle. On October 25, 1826 they sold their two acre homestead to Russell S. Stevens. This is the last document found for them. The couple lived a long life together, celebrating at least forty-six years of marriage.
No will, nor place of burial, has been found for either of them. Having divided up his estate among his children during his lifetime, Benjamin apparently felt no need for a will. Transcripts of the three pioneer cemeteries at Princeton, Burford, and Mount Pleasant were checked but no stone has survived for this couple.
Several of Benjamin and Catherine’s children continued to live in the area- Elizabeth Slawson and Mary Martin at Blenheim, David Doyle and Sarah Beamer at Burford. Youngest daughter Eleanor married firstly to John Cousins and then Richard Titus Kipp and settled at Blandford Twp. Oxford Co. Henry Doyle moved to Branch Co., Michigan and Rebecca Beamer after many years at Burford settled at Lansing, Michigan. Ann Doyle and James Pelton lived many years at Blenheim then ended their days at Kalamazoo, Michigan. John lived out his days at Westminster Township, Middlesex County.